My granddaughter Scout is allergic to cows milk, at least to the kind you buy in the store. As a result, she needs goats milk.

I am a great fan of teaching your children in their terms, their understanding. A one year old understands different than a two year old or a ten year old. We have talked to Scout (17 months old) about her milk and it comes from the goats. Since I am not milking my goat yet I knew she did not fully understand.

Today I went to the farm where I get the goats milk. We happened to show up at milking time and what a blessing it was for us. They people were gracious enough to not only let us come back and Scout see the milk coming out as the goat was getting milked, but also let Scout give milking a try.

You never saw such a bug eyed girl when the milk came out of that funny bag, nor such a proud girl when she got to make the milk come out!

Whatever it is you are saying to your children, say it in words and pictures they understand. Let them see hows and whys of things that they can’t understand yet when it is at all possible. Demonstrate. Act like a kid if you need to for them to understand what you are saying.

So many times I have heard parents say something to a child too young to understand what is being said and then react because they did not understand and did what they were not supposed to.

Actually, same goes for us as adults. Too often, when we are new at something, we do not understand either. Remember how you reacted and felt then and make sure you explain well to your children.